Campbell hopes hit song breaks record

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The life of a country song at Top 40 country radio is normally measured in weeks.

However, singer Craig Campbell seemingly caught lightning in a bottle with his song “Outta My Head,” which was released exactly a year ago last week and still remains on the charts.

“We’re really hoping to break the record of longest-charting single of all time,” said Campbell, calling from his Nashville area home. “We’re going to try to keep this thing on the chart for at least another five or six more weeks and get that record.”

Lee Bryce currently holds the record of more than 55 weeks on the country charts with his hit “Love Like Crazy.” Campbell said he’s focused on “Outta My Head” and its amazing run so much that he decided to delay a second single from his recently released sophomore album, “Never Regret.”

Still, he’s excited about the new material, which provides a different perspective of this Georgia-born singer-songwriter known for earlier hits “Family Man,” “Fish” and “When I Get It.”

Campbell said his 2011 self-titled debut effort was a bit reserved, following a traditional path similar to that of Alan Jackson and Tracy Lawrence. As for “No Regrets,” he wanted to change up the pace by adding contemporary elements. He included new studio musicians and subject matter. Specifically speaking to the latter, Campbell said the album has a, well, sexier side.

“Like the title track talks about how much a guy is out with a girl and she’s turning him on pretty hot, and he’s telling her let’s do this or stop messing with me,” Campbell said. “Another song is ‘Topless.’ I wrote that with my wife, and that’s pretty hot. It talks about everything being better topless. And there’s ‘Outta My Head.’ Even though it’s a heartbreak song, what girl doesn’t want to think a guy is still thinking about them like that? So we tried to put some songs on there for the girls, for sure.”

The fact that his wife helped write a song called “Topless” means (a) she’s cool, and (b) she must always be open to being, well, topless.

“That’s what I mean — she’s very inspirational,” Campbell said, laughing. “That was her first cut. She was excited to have it on the album. I told her when we put it on the album that I would be doing this song at my show, and there’s a good chance we may end up with a few bras on stage. She said, ‘Whatever. If it’s a Victoria Secret bra, just make sure you bring it home.’”

It appears as though Campbell’s wife has no regrets about writing that tune. Considering his album is called “Never Regret,” it seems almost obligatory that Campbell discuss his.

“No, I don’t have any regrets,” Campbell said. “That’s why we named it that.”